


to wipe clean and forget, it would be hell

by daedalia



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Canon Divergence, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 22:27:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5223314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daedalia/pseuds/daedalia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“didnt we warn you, o cruel and merciless child, of the dangers beyond the village?”</p>
<p>“but surely, surely—“</p>
<p>“—yes, this was fated to be”</p>
            </blockquote>





	to wipe clean and forget, it would be hell

**Author's Note:**

> oooo im dying im fucking dying there was this photoset on pixiv and it hurt me so bad i hate the tales series so much after two years of being unable to finish any fics this damn game breaks my writers block i cant believe th
> 
> wow okay anyway… i guess canon divergence is the right term. the massacre in camlann never happened, heldalf didnt become the lord of calamity, maotelus is just chillin in his shrine etc etc (tbh i have no clue what counts as spoilers at this point… )

The years in the village of Camlann passed more or less peacefully. Occasionally troops from both Rolance and Hyland would pass through, and so the village became a sort of neutral meeting point for the two nations whenever peace treaty talks needed to be held, but life was uneventful, and the villagers preferred it remain that way. Naturally, the village became livelier once two children were added to the mix. And, of course, those two children would get into some sort of trouble every day because of their antics.

Today, however, the village is quiet. It’s not that Sorey and Mikleo are annoying or irritating, but they like to talk so much that most of the adults can’t keep up with their weird ruin jargon. Small children really shouldn’t know so many confusing words. And a little peace and quiet was nice, even if it meant that the two of them were off getting into trouble somewhere. Of course, that means that they were wandering around in a place they were definitely not supposed to be at, but the allure of exploring the ruins just beyond the base of the mountains was much stronger than their combined willpower to obey their elders. So, they snuck out of the village easily enough, all but tumbled down the mountainside, and made sure to explore every nook and cranny of every room in the ruins.

That is what they’re doing, in a small room towards the back of the ruins, when Mikleo speaks up. “I’m sure you already know this, but don’t _push_ anything that can be pushed and especially don’t pull any levers—”

The sound of a device being set off makes both of them freeze in their tracks. They glance around the room wildly, ready to dodge any arrows or sprint out of the room when deadly sharp spikes appear on the floor and walls… but nothing happens. Sorey laughs as Mikleo frowns at him halfheartedly, and they continue their examinations, careful not to set off any more traps.

Sorey is inspecting the doorway, trying to make sense of the garbled scribblings that were scrawled along the edges, when the room begins to rumble ominously. He braces a hand against the wall to steady himself and Mikleo does the same, and they slowly inch towards each other.

“Do you think it’s an earthquake?!” He has to yell to be heard over the noise.

“Perhaps! We should probably leave!”

He nods, and he seriously wishes the room would stop shaking so much because it’s going to take forever to leave the ruins at this rate. At least he’s close to the doorway, where it’ll be easier to steady himself… until Mikleo shoves him none too gently and he practically rolls through the doorway and into the hallway. There’s a loud crash of a stone falling into the doorway and dust fills his nose, but the rumbling stops so he shakes the dizziness away. He rubs the back of his head from when he hit the wall and coughs, walking up to the now blocked off door once the dust settles. It’s sealed fairly tightly, but at least he can hear Mikleo on the other side.

“Mikleo! Are you alright?”

“As alright as I can be, trapped in here. Will you please find a way to open the door?”

“Oh, right.” He laughs, and pulls out his notebook to sketch a quick map as he walks. “Don’t move; I’ll be back soon!”

He hears Mikleo grumble as he walks away, undoubtedly about how he couldn’t possibly leave, and begins searching every panel of every wall for some kind of lever or switch. The ruins aren’t that big, but he makes sure to check every inch of stone, and a couple hours pass before he’s standing in front of the closed room again.

“Any luck?”

“No, nothing.”

Mikleo is quiet, but… that’s how he usually is.

“I know we’ll get in trouble, but I think I better go back to the village for some help. We might have to break the door down.”

“I see…” He pauses, and what could Mikleo possibly be doing in there? “Before you go, let’s just talk. Just for a little bit. Is that okay?”

“Um, of course. Are… are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Were there any hints as to when these ruins were built?”

“Oh! Well, the stones themselves are hard to use, since I don’t have any samples to compare them to at the moment, but if I were to guess I’d say this place is about 600 years old. There is so much imagery of the lords from that time period, even though the ancient language isn’t present anywhere. I’m thinking either they didn’t know the language, like a secluded group of worshippers, or maybe that was just their theme and they didn’t need to have any writing.” He stops to take a breath. “Either way, there weren’t any tombs or memorials or hidden artifacts anywhere.”

“Do you suppose this place is a shrine then?”

“It’s possible! Even though there isn’t anything that looks like an enshrined object, it could just be a shrine and nothing else.”

Mikleo is quiet again for a few minutes. “Hey, is—”

“Sorey, I think you should go to the village now.”

“I, uh, okay? Did something happen?”

“No, just… I’m fine.” A pause. “We’re going to explore even more ruins, right? All over the world?”

What– “Of course we are! Just the two of us, like always. Why are you asking me that all of a sudden?”

“It’s nothing. Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself… if I’m not around. Promise me.”

Sorey nods, then remembers that Mikleo can’t actually see him. “Right! And you do the same, okay? You have to promise, too!”

“I promise.”

“Okay, I’ll be back soon!” He turns to head back to the village, cringing at the thought of having to explain just what he and Mikleo were up to. “We’re going to be in so much trouble, though. I’m going to have to do so many chores…”

Mikleo laughs, and even though it’s muffled it still cheers Sorey up. He was just upset at being stuck inside that room, as anyone would be, and Sorey sprints all the way back to the village.

* * *

He gets in a lot of trouble. There isn’t too much yelling, since they have to go back to get Mikleo, but he can tell that once that’s taken care of he’ll be lucky if he gets a break from housework for the next five years. Freedom was nice while it lasted.

When they reach the shrine entrance, he notices that the ground is wet and there are a few puddles. And then… the floors of the ruins have even more puddles, and before long he’s running and slipping as he makes his way to the room where Mikleo is, unaware of the other villagers struggling to keep up with him. 

He reaches the hallway, and first sees the stone that had been the door leaning against the hallway wall. Whatever mechanism was holding it in place had been released. Sorey does his best to scramble up into the opening, and when he finally climbs over and into the room he stops moving. He… he’s stopped moving. His hands go lax and he tumbles onto the floor of the room, landing face first into several inches of water. His arms tremble as he pushes himself up, and his legs shiver as he moves forward, and his vision wavers and blurs as tears fill his eyes and drip down his cheeks. 

“Hey… Mikleo. I came back, like I said I would.” He can’t even hear his own voice over the blood rushing through his ears. “You said everything was okay, so… I wasn’t gone that long, was I?”

Someone walks up to him and places a hand on his shoulder. “Sorey… it’s no good—”

“It’s not my fault, is it, Mikleo?” He falls to his knees and grabs Mikleo’s hand. There is nothing. Nothing? Why isn’t he saying anything?

“We should go back. I don’t think… we need to stay here.” Murmurs of agreement. But… but Mikleo–

“You promised! I wasn’t here, but you promised to take care of yourself! I… what?” He had promised, and… 

Sorey looks around the room. It’s different from before. There are holes in the ceiling, they definitely weren’t there before… before he’d been in the room. And now after, he feels lonely and somehow it’s his fault even though a voice in the back of his head insists it isn’t. But… it is his fault.

He cries and sobs and wails, absolutely refusing to let go of Mikleo’s hand and isn’t even aware of one of the villagers carrying him back. He cries until he doesn’t have any tears left, and all he can do is hiccup and apologize over and over.

They’re greeted by Muse at the village entrance. Her face falls when she sees Sorey, and when someone reveals the other bundle, she breaks down as well. She hugs her child close to her chest and collapses to her knees. A few villagers try their best to comfort her.

“He… was trapped in the ruins, and water… Sorey couldn’t possibly free him alone, but Mikleo must’ve known there wasn’t enough time, so he…”

Muse looks up, tears still streaking down her cheeks. She smiles gently at Sorey and he locks up. “At least… you’re okay. If both of you had—”

A new wave of tears spring forth, and Sorey cries even harder than before. He apologizes, over and over again, to Muse and Mikleo and everyone in the village, and he doesn’t stop until his voice disappears and he passes out.

* * *

Time passes. For Sorey, living is… hard. It is beyond difficult, and there are so many days where he wakes up and feels weight crushing his chest to the point that he struggles for hours to get out of bed, but he manages somehow. He promised, anyway, so he manages and he doesn’t forget. He doesn’t count every second that passes, but he doesn’t feel disgusting regret that his mind isn’t occupied with nothing but guilty thoughts. He just lives for the two of them.

A day. A week. A month. A year, unbelievably. Several years. Winter arrives, and with it flurries of snow that blanket the ground. It also changes the terrain dramatically, so the village sends a patrol to the outskirts of the borders twice a day in case any traveling troops or merchants get lost in the mountain pass. 

Today, it is Sorey’s turn. He had actually gone yesterday, but the lady two houses down the road who was supposed to go this time had volunteered to watch over the kids of the parents who had gone to pay the shrine a visit, and naturally she couldn’t bring them along with her to the mountain pass, so—

“Don’t worry about it. I would’ve been stuck inside all day doing chores, and it’s nice to walk around.” She looks relieved as Sorey speaks and bows deeply as she thanks him. 

He lingers around the pass for a half hour, keeping an eye on the trail below to check for any movement. Eventually, though, he starts heading back to the village to report on the lack of activity. Halfway through the trek he berates himself for not wearing an extra layer of clothing when snow begins to fall again and slows his pace considerably. As much as he doesn’t want to, he takes a quick break and leans against a tree. Borrowing a horse would have been a better idea than going by foot–

A twig snaps in the distance and his head swivels toward the sound. Especially during the winter they have to be wary of wolves entering the village, as uncommon as it might be this deep in the mountains. There’s no other noise, but he moves forward to investigate it anyway, and instead of a wolf he spots a person standing by the river a little ways off from the trail. 

“Ah, hey! Hello, you might want to not be in the snow, since it’s so cold and – oh.” The person turns around and Sorey stops dead in his tracks. His lungs burn with the exhaustion from having to plow through the snow and the cold, thin air makes it hard to breathe. It becomes even more difficult when he gets a good look at the person’s face. They’re… very pretty, with smooth white hair and pale skin and a slender body, and he jerks his eyes back up to their face to meet with bright, vivid purple eyes that remain unblinking.

Purple… purple eyes…

Slowly, Sorey walks up to them, never once breaking eye contact, and they don’t even flinch when he’s only inches away and has his hands on their shoulders and he’s trembling from something deep inside. His hands wander everywhere, on their cheeks and their arms and he laces his fingers through theirs and strokes their hair gently and eventually his hands come to rest on their back as he pulls them into a tight hug and nearly collapses as he sobs. The poor boy is incoherent between all the tears and hiccups and sniffling, and they can barely make out what he’s saying.

“… it’s… it’s you, isn’t it? I… oh, I’m so… I didn’t… but you… _I’m so sorry_ …”

They don’t respond, because how are they supposed to respond to something like that? But Sorey continues, wailing and clutching desperately at their clothing.

“I’m… I’m sorry… please, _Mikleo_ , please…”

Mikleo

_Mikleo_

_M i k l e o_

And then, it’s as if a dam broke. Memories flood his brain, fuzzy and foggy and frustratingly hazy but Sorey is in all of them and Sorey is there by his side and _Sorey_ —

He wraps his arms around Sorey and buries his face in the crook of his neck and cries alongside his friend.

**Author's Note:**

> sorey and mikleo are probably 10 or 11, and 15-16 in the end
> 
> i cant wait to come back tomorrow and find a million mistakes because its 2am and i regret all of this


End file.
